Adolf Hitler's three-mile-long abandoned Nazi resort is being transformed into a luxury getaway
Rediscovered after 75 years, Furher's larger-than-life structure is getting turned into a sprawling set of luxury apartments and hotel rooms
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Three years before Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of the world's largest tourist resort, located on a beachfront property on the island of Rügen.
The Nazis called it Prora.
Capable of holding more than 20,000 residents, Prora was meant to comfort the weary German worker who toiled away in a factory without respite.
According to historian and tour guide Roger Moorhouse, it was also meant to serve as the carrot to the stick of the Gestapo — a pacifying gesture to get the German people on Hitler's side.
But then World War II began, and Prora's construction stalled — until now.
In 1936, Germany was still enmeshed in the concept of “people's community,” or volksgemeinschaft, from World War I. It was a sense that Germans stood united, no matter what.
While the Nazi police state was in development, the overarching German vision was a hopeful one, Moorhouse told Business Insider. “And this,” he said, “is where something like Prora comes in.”
Over the next three years, more than 9,000 workers erected a 2.7-mile-long building out of brick and concrete. Its practicality was dwarfed by its grandness. Moorhouse calls it “megalomania in stone.”
“The photos cannot physically do it justice,” Moorhouse said. “It's too big.” By all accounts, it would have been one of the most impressive structures in the world.
But as the Third Reich began its devastating march through Europe, workers returned to their factories and Prora fell by the wayside.
It became a shell of building, a failed Nazi dream left to decay for the next several decades...
... until 2013, when the German real-estate company Metropole Marketing bought the rights to refurbish Prora and build it up as luxury summer homes and a full-time apartment complex.
The new homes will take up several of the structure's eight blocks, split between the Prora Solitaire Home and the Prora Solitaire Hotel Apartments and Spa.
Metropole expects to finish the entire restoration by 2022, though both the apartment units and the summer homes are already for sale.
Prora's block of apartments opened in the summer of 2016. To buy one of the units, you'll need to shell out $400,000 to $725,000.
It all depends on how much space you'll need.
Penthouse suites, like this one, will run on the pricier end...
...while more modest units will be less expensive.
In all cases, the design aesthetic tends toward the modern.
Regardless of size or cost, buildings will all feature glass elevators, heated floors, and laundry facilities.
And all beach-facing units will give residents sweeping views of the Baltic Sea.
They can also take advantage of the complex's spa and swimming pools, not to mention the extensive outdoor garden.
While these amenities are certainly appealing, given the location's history and its distance from Berlin — about three hours by car — Moorhouse has his doubts that people will want to spend time there.
The structure, conceived on the brink of global chaos, could end up flopping a second time, tainted by its first failed vision.
Or it could thrive as a destination in a world where Nazi occupation continues to fade into history.
• Bill Gates made these 15 scarily accurate predictions in 1999
• Dubai spent $1 billion building the largest indoor theme park on earth
• Hawaii just became the first US state to support a universal basic income
Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments